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they bring the
pups?” she asked in surprise. The building looked abandoned and
lacked heat to keep the pups warm. None of that mattered, they’d be
moving the pups to a better location anyway.
    Radoff frowned. “Pups? No. Why? Did you see
something?” He turned and looked behind him and then faced her
again.
    Asia withheld a growl of disappointment. “What
did you find then?”
    He met her gaze and the sparkle returned to
his eyes. “This is Lord Konstantin’s castle.” He spoke with an air
of pride and amazement.
    Asia had no idea who Konstantin was and
crossed her arms over her chest waiting for an explanation. They
had driven hours to reach this place and she hoped Konstantin knew
something about the missing pups or she’d be pissed at the delay.
Mistress and La Patron were counting on her to shut the Liege
down.
    Radoff seemed confused by her lack of
excitement. “Lord Konstantin.” He leaned forward and waited a beat.
“The Lord who started the Roundtable of Lords back in the late
1800’s.” He looked behind him and then at them again. “This place
isn’t in the official records of his land holdings. He had a
special place where he met with the Roundtable and the Fekete
Farkas, or Black wolf clan.”
    Asia sensed Hawke’s surprise through their
link. She took another look at the crumbling estate. “Roundtable of
Lords?”
    Radoff’s grin widened as he nodded. “That was
the original name of the group, it changed in the 1900’s to Liege
Lords, more modern I suppose.” He shrugged and looked at the
building as if it were an early Christmas present. She prayed there
were answers to their current problem behind those
walls.
    “Why is this important?” Hawke asked, gazing
at the building.
    Radoff took on the look of a professor intent
on a lecture. She recalled his warning that she slow down and learn
more before rushing ahead and prepared to listen.
    “Lord Konstantin was Hungarian and part of the
aristocracy back in the 1800’s. They ruled what we know as Romania
with an iron fist. Didn’t matter that they were the minority, they
kept the majority poor and ignorant. Konstantin shied away from
politics and invested in land. He owned thousands of acres across
this area, Egypt, Moldova and Russia. The man was ahead of his time
when it came to agriculture and making the land
productive.”
    He glanced at Asia and waved his hand. “But
that’s for another day. Konstantin had an affinity for the land and
animals. Liked them better than people actually. Most of the public
conservation areas in this country were his ideas and he set aside
private places for wildlife. The man had a soft spot for wolves.
Black wolves in particular. Rumor has it he was attacked and robbed
by rebels on his way to his estate and left along the road with his
guards for dead.”
    He paused, gauging their attention and
continued. “Alpha Nikolas of the Fekete Farkas Clan saved his life,
took him into the forest and did something. Whatever the Alpha did
to Konstantin, made him stronger than he had been before. He
maintained lands here for years until there was murmuring about his
failing to age and then he moved to Egypt. Over the course of his
life he moved all over the continent deeding pack lands to various
clans. Most Alphas refuse to have anything to do with human
authorities, so the Roundtable was set up to ensure packs would
always own their land and thrive. Years later Alpha Nikolas died in
a pack battle and was put to rest, Konstantin died a month later.
They were tied in some way no one has ever understood.”
    Asia wondered if Konstantin and Nikolas were
mates. Stranger things happened.
    “And we are here because?” Hawke
asked.
    “Because this is where it all begun. Pacts
were made. Strategies how to go forward were created. I’m hoping we
can find records of some sort that would give insight on why the
Liege is taking the pups.”
    “And you think the answer is in this
building?” Asia asked, taking another